The New Shortage: Ketchup Can’t Catch Up The pandemic turned restaurants into takeout specialists, boosting demand for the condiment; ‘Everyone out there is grabbing for ketchup’

wsj ^

[mylife]

Supply chain problems are reaching into a far corner of the business universe: Ketchup packets.

After enduring a year of closures, employee safety fears and start-stop openings, many American restaurants are now facing a nationwide ketchup shortage. Restaurants are trying to secure the tabletop staple after Covid-19 upended the condiment world order. Managers are using generic versions, pouring out bulk ketchup into individual cups and hitting the aisles of Costco for substitutes.

“We’ve been hunting high and low,” said Chris Fuselier, owner of Denver-based Blake Street Tavern, who has struggled to keep ketchup in stock for much of this year.

The pandemic turned many sit-down restaurants into takeout specialists, making individual ketchup packets the primary condiment currency for both national chains and mom-and-pop restaurants. Packet prices are up 13% since January 2020, and their market share has exploded at the expense of tabletop bottles, according to restaurant-business platform Plate IQ.

Even fast-food giants are pleading for packets. Long John Silver’s LLC, a nearly 700-unit chain, had to seek ketchup from secondary suppliers because of the rush in demand. The industry’s pandemic shift to packets has pushed up prices, costing the Louisville, Ky.-based company an extra half-million dollars, executives said, since single-serve is pricier than bulk.

[Mr. K]

Or mayonnaise!

In my family we grew up dipping our fries in mayonnaise.

I think I was 17 before I saw somebody use ketchup.

If you’ve never tried it, Yumm!